How to diagnose auto S13 shifting problem?

[Fred Allen Burge]

Guys,
I have a 93 auto S13, ever since I bought it it has had an intermittent problem where the tranny won't shift up out of 1st gear when pulling away from a stop. It's pretty random as to when it will do it but I've been living with it for long enough to have noticed some pattern to it.

1. It never does it on the first stop light after the car has been sitting but will almost always do it on the second stop light. After that it won't usually do it again until then next day or after the car has sat for a number of hours.

2. When coming up to that second stop if I turn the car off then on again it will shift out of first just like normal after the light turns green.

3. While it's doing it (hanging in first) I can turn the ignition off/on quickly while rolling and it will go ahead and shift up and be fine.

4. Doesn't matter if the tranny is hot or cold.


Any thoughts on how to diagnose this problem? It shifts fine otherwise and holds gears properly w/o slipping....fluid is full and looks good....


And, on a possibly related issue my speedo has never worked, swapped to an analog cluster and it still doesn't work. Related?

Thanks for any advice,
Fred